More MLAs may go on foreign tour

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar may have instructed a team of MLAs currently on a foreign junket to cut short their trip and return at the earliest.

But another set of 13 legislators is most likely to go ahead with its scheduled tour abroad.

Official sources said none of the members of the team presently on tour was in touch with the Assembly secretariat and as a result, the chief minister’s directive might not have reached them.

The MLAs, all members of the Legislative Assembly Committee for Public Undertaking, are touring South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Peru, and they are scheduled to return on September 17.

The “study” tour, at a time when severe drought has gripped the State, has drawn severe criticism from all quarters. The government has declared almost the entire State (157 taluks of the total 176) drought-affected.

Other panels in limbo

Members of two other panels – the Committee on Papers Laid and the Committee on Petitions – scheduled to go on a junket on September 23, are in limbo following criticism in the media and Shettar’s statement in the public.

The committee members have already finalised their itinerary and some of them have also booked the flight tickets, sources said.

Both the committees are headed by Deputy Speaker Yogeesh Bhat and hence, they have planned to jointly tour the US, Canada, Dubai, Moscow, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Israel and Egypt, and return to Bangalore on October 14.

Sources said the members of these committees were now divided in their opinion on the junket. While some want the tour postponed, others are ready to go ahead, defying the chief minister’s directive.

But a majority of the MLAs are unwilling to postpone the tour. This is because they have paid for air tickets for their spouses as well.

If the tour is postponed, they will end up losing a lot of money, sources said.

Suresh Gowda, BJP MLA and chairperson of the Sub-ordination Committee of the Legislature, said though he had decided not to travel abroad, he would take a final decision on Thursday.

“Last time I cancelled my tickets for a tour of Europe and lost about Rs nine lakh. The travel agency is yet to return my money because the tickets were cancelled at the last minute.

But this time, I have not bought the tickets or paid the visa fee. I plan to go on a private trip to Israel to study drip irrigation along with some,” he said.

Each MLA is entitled to spend up to Rs 6 lakh for a trip abroad.

When contacted, Bhat said he cannot take a unilateral decision on cancelling the tour. “I am aware of the chief minister’s advice. The committee member will meet shortly and take a decision,” he said.

Flip-flop by Speaker

Speaker K G Bopaiah’s volte-face on the MLAs’ foreign tour has put the officials of the Assembly secretariat in a fix over their tour plans.

Bopaiah, sources said, had on August 17 circulated a note to all the legislative committees directing them to postpone the tour plans for two months in view of the drought.

He, however, approved on August 21 the tour plans of the Committee on Papers Laid and the Committee on Petitions.

The Speaker has reportedly given oral instructions to all the committees to defer their tour plans by two months.

“The chief minister’s decision is final. No MLA will go on foreign tour,” he told reporters.